Keeping track of a real estate portfolio, be it renting out a single apartment or having dozens of apartment buildings for investment purposes, used to be relegated to often tedious off-line software, like spreadsheet programs, which would struggle to keep up with all the maintenance requests, lease documents, payment records and tenant communications that come in.
These days, on the other hand, it’s increasingly being done through cloud platforms, which give housing teams a more flexible way to access information, coordinate work and keep operations visible across locations. This has made a significant difference to individuals managing housing portfolios but is a total game changer for teams.
The basic appeal of cloud technology is simple: people can work from the same information without needing the same device or physical office. For housing teams, that matters because daily operations rarely happen in one place and is where cloud-based property management fits into the larger shift. Instead of treating each task as a separate workflow, teams can use a central platform to keep daily operations, records and communication more organized.
A manager may need to check a lease from home, a maintenance coordinator may need to update a request in the field and an owner may want clearer reporting without waiting for a manual file export. That kind of access is exactly why the cloud computing model has become so important across modern business operations.
There is, of course, a huge catch when it comes to using the cloud as a way of storing and managing crucial information for home owners and housing teams both. Having such information out in the digital makes it vulnerable in a way that it never was sitting on your PC’s hard drive. Offline real estate management was only a security risk if your laptop or desktop was stolen or, at worst, if the CD or disk on which you stored it was similarly lost or stolen.
We’ve all heard anough about the most private and sensitive information, videos, and pictures being hacked and stolen from cloud sources to make anyone weary of storing anything on the cloud that you wouldn’t want others to see.
Fortunately, things have come along way and things like cyber encryption and robust cybersecurity programs are both cheaper and easier to use than ever. And, obviously, more effective too.
At the heart of securing cloud systems is the use of rules to limit and control who has access to what information and when. When working in teams, especially, it is absolutely crucial to set user permissions, authentication, backups, incident responses to make sure that if something does go wrong, it can be identified and contained as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
That is especially important in housing operations because small disruptions can quickly affect tenants, owners and vendors at the same time. Strong cloud security best practices give teams a better foundation for managing those risks while still using the flexibility of cloud-based tools.
Beyond even this, though, is the need to make sure you have the most basic cyber-security programs up and running at all times. VPNs can be controversial as you are effectively funnelling all your info into a single company, but that’s still a lot better than accessing the internet directly. Antviruses, anti-phishing and anti-melware programs are really the key here. There are tons of good ones on the market, but it’s generally recommended that you make use of paid versions, especially paid professional or business versions of each program.
The good news is that most cybersecurity programs come bundled with every tool you’ll need to protect your information; tools that are constantly upgraded with the latest security updates and virus definitions, and come with a selection of support options and money-back guarantees. They’re not perfect, but they are a must for anyone with a real estate portfolio at this point.